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Vanities/Style

The artist Kia LaBeija, who brings her voguing background to a new performance work, puts a polish on maximalism

'On any given day in New York, you can walk on this very specifically mapped-out grid and stumble into possibility," says Kia LaBeija. Born into an artistic family and rechristened by the city's voguing scene (she formerly led the famed House of LaBeija and made a cameo on Pose), she mounts a literal grid onstage this fall in Untitled, The Black Act, a sixperson work for the Performa 19 Biennial. Inspired by the Bauhaus geometry of Oskar Schlemmer's The Triadic Ballet— what he called "a party of form and color," with vivid, bulbous costumes—the Alvin Ailey-trained LaBeija pairs looselimbed improvisation with more movable attire. "I've always loved dress-up," she says, in a profusion of pearls, "It's about playing different versions of who you'd like to be."

LAURA REGENSDORF

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